1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an finger operating apparatus which instructs flexing motions of fingers, and an arm operating apparatus which uses the same finger operating apparatus and instructs motions of the respective parts of an arm along with the flexing motions of fingers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, an operating apparatus (for example, a finger operating apparatus, and an arm operating apparatus including the finger operating apparatus) which provides motion instructions to a robot has been thought highly of, in line with an increase in work force by a robot apparatus.
As a prior art finger operating apparatus, an input device acting as a data glove disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 3465 of 1994, exists. The data glove is to instruct flexing motions of fingers, utilizing variations in electrical resistance of an electrically conductive gel which is attached to joint portions of the fingers of a glove-shaped input device in response to the flexed condition of the fingers.
However, the data glove is of a glove type, in which electrically conductive gel must be attached to the joints of respective fingers as sensors. Therefore, attaching and detaching thereof is very cumbersome, and there arises another problem in that operators feel uncomfortable since the fingers will perspire in the gloves when temperature is high.
In the finger operating joystick and arm operating apparatus, it is requested that the operation is easily and comfortably carried out.
To meet this request, it is therefore an object of the invention to provide a finger operating apparatus whose operation can be easily and comfortably carried out, and an arm operating apparatus whose operation is also simply carried out by using the same finger operating apparatus.
In order to achieve the abovementioned object, according to the invention a finger operating apparatus comprises a finger operating joystick, a signal reaction generator at which one end of the first, second and third return springs are anchored, and the first, second and third wires, one end of each is anchored at the finger operating joystick, and the other end of which is anchored at the other end of the first, second and third return springs of the signal reaction generator; wherein the finger operating joystick includes a joystick shaft rotatably attached to the signal reaction generator; a roughly cylindrical body attached onto the upper part of the joystick shaft; a tongue-shaped thumb flexing instruction portion, to which one end of the first wire is attached, rotatably attached to the side of the cylindrical body by pressing of the first return spring; a rectangular projection forefinger flexing instruction portion, to which one end of the second wire is attached, attached at the front upper part of the cylindrical body by pressing of the second return spring so as to freely advance and retreat; and a rectangular projection middle finger flexing instruction portion, to which one end of the third wire is attached, attached at the front lower part of the cylindrical body by pressing of the third return spring so as to freely advance and retreat; and wherein the signal reaction generator includes the first, second and third detectors which detect movements of the first, second and third wires in line with rotation of the thumb flexing instruction portion, advance and retreat of the forefinger flexing instruction portion, and advance and retreat of the middle finger flexing instruction portion; and a wrist rotation detector which detects the rotation of the joystick shaft.
Accordingly, it is possible to obtain a finger operating apparatus whose operation can be easily and comfortably carried out. Also, the fingers of a robot can be operated incorporated with the fingers of an operator, wherein delicate finger operations of the operator can be realized by the fingers of the robot.
An arm operating apparatus according to the invention to achieve the abovementioned object comprises an arm forward/backward motion instruction device for instructing the forward or backward motion of the arm; an arm right/left motion instruction device for instructing the right or left motion of the arm; an upper arm rotation instruction device for instructing the rotation of the upper arm; an elbow flexing instruction device for instructing the flexing motion of the elbow; a forearm rotation instruction device for instructing the rotation of the forearm; and a wrist up/down motion instruction device for instructing the up or down motion of the wrist; wherein a signal reaction generator of the finger operating apparatus as set forth in Claim 1 or 2 is fixed at the wrist up/down motion instruction device.
Therefore, an arm operating apparatus which is capable of simply carrying out operations by using the abovementioned finger operating apparatus can be obtained. Since motions of the entire arm from the portions adjacent to the shoulder of the arm of a robot apparatus to the fingertip can be achieved by an operator being seated in, for example, a chair and moving his or her arm with the finger operating apparatus grasped in his or her hand. Therefore, it is possible to easily carry out instruction of the arm motions of the robot apparatus comfortably.
As described above, according to the finger operating apparatus as set forth in Claim 1 of the invention, a finger operating apparatus comprises a finger operating joystick, a signal reaction generator at which one end of the first, second and third return spring is anchored, and the first, second and third wires, one end of each is anchored at the finger operating joystick, and the other end of which is anchored at the other end of the first, second and third return springs of the signal reaction generator; wherein the finger operating joystick includes a joystick shaft rotatably attached to the signal reaction generator; a roughly cylindrical body attached onto the upper part of the joystick shaft; a tongue-shaped thumb flexing instruction portion, to which one end of the first wire is attached, rotatably attached to the side of the cylindrical body by pressing of the first return spring; a rectangular projection forefinger flexing instruction portion, to which one end of the second wire is attached, attached at the front upper part of the cylindrical body by pressing of the second return spring so as to freely advance and retreat; and a rectangular projection middle finger flexing instruction portion, to which one end of the third wire is attached, attached at the front lower part of the cylindrical body by pressing of the third return spring so as to freely advance and retreat; and wherein the signal reaction generator includes the first, second and third detectors which detect movements of the first, second and third wires in line with rotation of the thumb flexing instruction portion, advance and retreat of the forefinger flexing instruction portion, and advance and retreat of the middle finger flexing instruction portion; and a wrist rotation detector which detects the rotation of the joystick shaft. Therefore, the thumb flexing instruction portion is disposed at the side of the cylindrical body, and the forefinger flexing instruction portion and the middle finger flexing instruction portion are disposed at the front side of the cylindrical body, whereby if the cylindrical body is grasped by a hand so as to cover it, it is possible to easily provide a robot apparatus with instructions of the thumb, forefinger, middle finger flexing actions (the flexing actions of the third finger and little finger are included in the middle finger flexing action) without accompanying any sense of discomfort as in the data glove. At the same time, by rotating the thumb flexing instruction portion disposed at the front side of the cylindrical body by the thumb, a signal to instruct flexing to the thumb can be generated from the first detector, and by causing the forefinger flexing instruction portion and middle finger flexing instruction portion, which are disposed at the side of the cylindrical body, to advance and retreat, both a signal to instruct flexing to the forefinger and a signal to instruct flexing to the middle finger can be generated from the second and third detectors. Further, by means of an operator rotating the joystick shaft 11, a signal to instruct rotation of the wrist can be generated by the wrist rotation detector 212. That is, an advantageous effect can be brought about, by which delicate and accurate operation can be achieved.
According to the finger operating apparatus of Claim 2, in addition to the finger operating apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, the signal reaction generator is provided with a reaction generator, which controls the movement of the first, second and third wires by a braking force responsive to a voltage applied between the other end of the first, second and third return springs and the other end of the first, second and third wires. Therefore, since it is possible to control the braking force by controlling the applied voltage, it is also possible to control the reaction generated at the first, second and third wire on the basis of the reaction in the robot apparatus, wherein an advantageous effect can be brought about, by which delicate and accurate operation can be achieved.
According to the arm operating apparatus of Claim 3, an arm operating apparatus is provided with an arm operating apparatus attaching portion by which the arm operating apparatus is fixed at a fixing portion such as a chair, etc.; an arm forward/backward motion instruction device for instructing the forward or backward motion of the arm; an arm right/left motion instruction device for instructing the right or left motion of the arm; an upper arm rotation instruction device for instructing the rotation of the upper arm; an elbow flexing instruction device for instructing the flexing motion of the elbow; a forearm rotation instruction device for instructing the rotation of the forearm; and a wrist up/down motion instruction device for instructing the up or down motion of the wrist; wherein a signal reaction generator of the finger operating apparatus as set forth in Claim 1 or 2 is fixed at the wrist supporting member incorporating the wrist up/down motion instruction device. Therefore, various motions of the entire arm from the portions adjacent to the shoulder of the arm of the robot apparatus to the fingertips can be achieved by an operator being seated in, for example, a chair and moving his or her arm with the finger operating apparatus grasped in his or her hand. Accordingly, such an advantageous effect can be brought about, wherein arm motion instruction of the robot apparatus can be easily carried out comfortably. Also, integrity of the operations made by an operator and motions of the robot apparatus can be further improved, wherein delicate and accurate operations of the robot apparatus can be remarkably improved.